Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews, Eddie Vedder to Help Celebrate Pete Seeger's 90th

Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews, Eddie Vedder, Tom Morello and dozens of other musicians will help Pete Seeger celebrate his 90th birthday May 3rd, during a concert at Madison Square Garden. The concert, which will also feature performances of the folk icon's songs by Warren Haynes, Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie, Emmylou Harris and Kris Kristofferson, will benefit the Clearwater organization, organizers announced this morning.

"It's a huge honor," Seeger told Rolling Stone. "Normally, I don't ever go in for big things. Bruce [Springsteen] had to persuade me to go down to Washington; and Clearwater had to persuade me to do Madison Square Garden." In 2006, Springsteen released We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, a collection of folk songs made famous by Seeger. The pair was also joined by Seeger's grandson for a performance of "This Land Is Your Land" as part of President Barack Obama's inauguration ceremonies in January.

"I grew up sneaking into folk clubs when I was 14-years-old, to hear local folksingers, and Pete was a hero," Haynes said. "I don't think I could miss it." The show will also reunite Seeger with Joan Baez, who also performed with him at the inauguration ceremonies, and sat down for an RS interview earlier this year.

The banjo-slinging activist singer-songwriter founded Hudson River Sloop Clearwater in 1969 to help trigger a cleanup of the Hudson River, which for decades has been polluted by cancer-causing PCBs. Seeger lives in Dutchess County, New York, not far from the river. Ticket prices will range from $19.19 (the year Seeger was born) to $250 with a majority priced at $90 to honor Pete's milestone. Additional ticket information can be found at the Clearwater Concert Website.

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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